Echo Hills Golf Club

Detailed description of Echo Hills Golf Club

Echo Hills Golf Club is a Public, 9 hole golf course located in Hemet, California.

Echo Hills Golf Club first opened for play in 1959. The course was designed by Ed Dover.

Echo Hills Golf Club plays to a par of 35 and a maximum 9-hole distance of 2,229 yards. The course rating is 29.2 and it has a slope rating of 92.

Echo Hills Golf Club has eight narrow, tree-lined, short par fours, with small greens. All are about 280 yards. #6 through #9 have elevated greens. The layout has one par three that measures 140 yards.

Blue tees: par-35, 2,229 yards

White tees: par-35, 2,197 yards

Red tees: par-35, 2,108 yards

Echo Hills Golf Club closed in August 2010. The rising cost of irrigation water was one of the reasons cited for the closing. bottom line, no longer profitable.

Stop the presses, the course reopened in 2013. 

The previous owner could not make enough money from green fees to operate and pay the city of Hemet water bills that were as high as $12,000 for a month. Frustrated, he stopped play and fenced the course. Fairways soon were brown and covered with weeds.

Valley-Wide Recreation and Park District purchased the 60-acre course for a cheap, $261,483, in 2012. The agency's former general manager, Sam Goepp, returned briefly on an interim assignment, made the deal and began revamping the course.

The district cut expenses by using volunteers to help rehabilitate the course. Just as importantly, Goepp exercised an old agreement to obtain bargain water from the city of Hemet that was part of allowing a well at Valley-Wideâs Searl Park. Fairways were spruced up and seeded, greens replanted and a stylish patio with a fancy barbecue built by the Echo Hills clubhouse.

The course opened to great fanfare nearly a year ago. Players returned in droves, exceeding projections for rounds of golf. Dean Wetter, now Valley-Wideâs general manager, happily reported that the course is meeting its expenses with green fees. About 100 golfers are playing daily.